


Legacy

by muse_of_mbaku



Series: Legacy [1]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1960s, Angst, Black Character(s), Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Female Character of Color, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2019-06-29 21:07:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15737364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muse_of_mbaku/pseuds/muse_of_mbaku
Summary: Set in Oakland in 1969, Erik is a member of the Black Panther Party working with Attorney Julia Johnson to save the local community school and her neighborhood.





	1. Chapter 1

Recommended Listening: People Make the World Go Round by The Stylistics

_Oakland, 1969_

Erik was doing his best to keep his face set in stone. But it was hard. All around him he could hear the whimpers of children and the scraping of furniture against the floor. His wrists, bruising between the crushing grip of an officer, were starting to go numb. His knees ached from digging into the floor for what had seemed like forever. He shifted slightly trying to alleviate some of the pressure on his joints. That was a mistake. 

In a rush, the sticky linoleum was pressed against his chin, a knee jutted into his spine. He saw stars briefly at the taut bounce of his head meeting the unyielding surface. Now, his line of sight was no longer the small cluster of young people huddled together at a table, the remnants of their breakfast growing cold in the morning air. It was instead the puddles of orange juice and milk mixing on the floor among the overturned boxes and bags of food. 

“Move again and I’ll blow off the top of ya head!” the voice above him barked. 

Erik suppressed a string of curses and grunted his acknowledgement. He didn’t want, nor need, the children seeing that. They’d seen enough. Enough black and brown bodies lifeless and broadcast across the news. Enough of their own families and friends in this exact same moment, prone and helpless under an officer’s boot. He tried to comfort them with his eyes and as much of a smile as he could muster. It wasn’t genuine, but they didn’t need to know that. He was just as afraid as them. 

Erik bristled at the sound of glass breaking and the rending of metal. He knew that was the music of milk bottles shattering against the kitchen floor and the puncturing of the large cans of fruit and vegetables. Fucking pigs were taking food out of the mouths of babies. And for what? Because they were black folk trying to take care of their own. He was sick of the raids. Sick of the cars staked at each corner of the block. And especially sick of the men they sent to infiltrate. Those men were never quite right and Erik had always sniffed them out before it was too late. This morning was no different. 

He’d entered the quiet space of the community school as he had every morning since January, the beginning of the breakfast program the Panthers were rapidly spreading across the nation. Under their care, thousands of children had their bellies filled before school and a few hundred of them even had the chance to be students in the building where he stood. Erik took pride in straightening the tables, pushing the chairs flush against them without making a sound. He’d flicked on the lights in the main hall before moving to notch up the heat a few degrees. It was cooler than usual and he wanted the children comfortable. It was April, and even after the sun had risen over the Bay, it was still chillier than he would have liked for the kids. The kitchen staff usually followed an hour after his arrival. He’d purposely set the schedule as a way of ensuring the building was secure before any of his people set foot into it. That morning nothing had been out of place nor unexpected.

Oakland Community School #1 worked like a well-oiled machine. The doors would open at 7:00 am to an orderly line of children and parents from the neighborhood. Big Brother Erik, as he was called by nearly everyone, stood at the door waiting to greet each of them with a fist pound, a Right On, or a tight hug. These were his people, no matter their trials and tribulations, and he was serious about protecting them all. Sometimes that protection meant biting his tongue or being beaten down to spare any man, woman, or child under his purview. That was what he was doing now. He’d take the knee carving into his back and the cold metal of a barrel against his skull if that meant the filthy hands of those cops stayed off of the women and children in the room. 

Erik’s eyes screwed closed at the sudden upsweep of his body to standing. What felt like fire shot through his arms and his fingers tingled when cuffs tightened against his flesh. A spate of protests rose from those gathered in the dining hall. This was exactly what he did not want. 

“Keep calm, brothers and sisters! Let them do what they will. This is nothing new.” 

He tried to keep his voice even, the anger from the edges of his words because he could feel the energy shift in the room. Those officers, the ones manhandling him towards the door, knew with a word from him the room would erupt and in that instance the odds were never in their favor. He let them half carry him through the doorway, shouting over his shoulder for everyone to remain inside. He’d take what they dished out and return more focused than ever. This wasn’t the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be the last he stared at the shrinking bodies of his people from the back of a cruiser, head held high while he still had the strength.


	2. Chapter 2

Recommended Listening: Brother’s Gonna Work It Out by Willie Hutch and Cissy Strut by The Meters

The slop in front of him wasn’t fit for animals let alone man. Still, Erik dipped the corner of white bread into the murky gray of the chipped beef swimming on his metal tray. He stomached a few bites and washed it down with the only palatable thing provided, strong coffee with only a hint of cream. Two days of powdered eggs and meat that was green at the edges had him feeling weak, but that was in body only. His mind was sound as ever. And right now, it was in overdrive. 

His dark eyes scanned the room from his position in the corner of the cafeteria. Behind him were the cool concrete blocks of the wall. Rule number one was to always watch your back. If someone was coming for him they’d have to do it head on. Erik knew keenly that all black faces weren’t friendly faces so his guard was up more than normal. He flexed his jaw in memory. The dark bruise settled at the corner of his mouth and those littering his torso were reminders of that. When black and white came together under the shadow of a badge the only color they saw was blue. To Erik, the brother that had helped work him over was as white as the driven snow. Probably more so. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around how a black man could not only turn a blind eye to everything burning down around them, but also be complicit in the breaking of one of his own. 

He chuckled sarcastically to himself, the sound quickly drowned out by the buzzer signaling chow time had come to an end. Erik slid from his seat and fell in line with the other men filing out of the mess hall and back into the general population. He’d hoped to head to the library, but his plan was thwarted. 

“Stevens!” 

Erik hated the twang of his name coming from the officer’s mouth, but he knew better than to show it. He wasn’t a fool. Between those walls, and in the hours he’d been there, his power was not his own. He placed the tray quickly onto the line and made his way towards the direction of the voice. He kept his hands visible when he came to a stop in front of Officer Calhoun. There was a silence he knew he was expected to fill with the proper greeting, but for as confined as Erik was he refused to stoop that low. He found secret joy at the reddening of the man’s face as the seconds stretched out between them. Calhoun broke first.

“Gather your things. You’re out.” 

Erik didn’t allow the small jolt of happiness in his belly to shadow across his face. He squared his shoulders and gave a curt nod before turning on his heels and making his way back to the cell he’d shared with eight other men. The last forty-eight hours had been harder than those in the past. This time he’d been worried about how those left back at the school had fared. As the cruiser had made its way down the block and around the corner, he’d spied the stream of bodies coming out into the morning chill. He’d cursed under his breath before he lost sight of them. 

Rounding the chipped paint of the cell bars, Erik flicked his chin skyward in greeting to the smattering of men sprawled across the bunks and floor. There wasn’t much for him to gather, just a few scraps of paper on which he’d written notes. He could only hope the rest of his belongings magically reappeared at the property cage upon his release. One very important item had to be pried from his hands, the length of linked chain on which dangled the last memory of his father. His refusal to relinquish it was the cause of the lingering ache just below his ribcage. Erik exited the cell with a solid fist raised to the men in the room then allowed himself to be cuffed for what he ‘d hoped would be the last time. 

She was a sight for sore eyes. Erik couldn’t stop that idea from forming when he entered the small lobby of the station and directly in front of him stood Julia. A small attaché case was clasped in front of her like a shield, her shoulders were squared, and a look of fire was in her eyes. Attorney Julia Johnson had been his saving grace on more than one occasion. This time was no exception. Erik was quite sure she’d rung the phone over and over again until she got the exact response she wanted.

The sound of her low heels echoed as she approached.

“Mr. Stevens, I take it they’ve treated you as to be expected?” Her glare cut towards the officer removing the cuffs from his wrists. Her keen eyes hadn’t had to linger long to catch the bruise tucked at the corner of his mouth, the way he drew breath gingerly.

Erik moved to her side while rubbing the tender flesh where the cuffs had been. “You know it, Sister Johnson. Hospitality and all that.”

He couldn’t keep the sneer from his face. Julia’s hand on his forearm eased him a bit. Out of respect for her, he’d bite his tongue because more than anything he didn’t want her on the other side of those bars due to his actions. All he wanted was his chain and he’d walk out of that cage without another protest. As if she read his mind, Julia shifted her hard gaze from the officer to him. He saw the brown orbs soften.

“I got it. Let’s go before I find yet another reason to file suit against this place.” She didn’t wait for Erik to move with her. Instead she turned on her heels and pushed out into the sunshine.

He caught up with her at the curb where her shiny black Ford Mustang awaited. Erik was always impressed each time she pulled into the parking lot of the school. With her cat eye glasses and neatly kept Afro, she didn’t look the type to be driving damn near a race car. Still, in the times she’d shuttled him around the Bay for events, he could feel the confidence radiating off her. 

She motioned towards the passenger side door on her way to the driver’s side. By the time he climbed in, she was behind the wheel and flicking the engine to life. For the first time since he’d entered the school a couple of days before, Erik’s breath came easy.

“Thanks, Jules.”

“That’s what I’m here for, N’Jadaka.” Her eyes remained focused on the road. “Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

Erik’s emotions scattered. He softened at her use of his chosen name. Very few people ever used the moniker, much preferring the easier name he’d grown up with. But he was also a bit proud at the bite beneath her words. He could tell she was furious that he’d been hurt. Jules, his nickname for the very straight-laced attorney who worked pro bono for the school, was a down sister. Just like him, she pulled no punches when it came to working for and protecting the people. She spent her evenings and weekends reviewing pending cases for those who couldn’t afford lawyers and even those being railroaded by public defenders just trying to clear their docket sheets. 

Erik wasn’t even sure how she’d come to be a fixture at the school. One day he just started paying attention to the quiet woman who’d taken up an empty desk in the corner of one of the communal spaces. Erik had to admit Julia was a heavy chick, but it wasn’t because she was foxy. It was her mind that had him in constant awe.

“Nah. I ate it a bit, but you know the pigs can’t keep a good brotha down!” He tried to add some levity to his voice. 

Julia wasn’t buying it. She sucked her teeth and took a sharp right turn away from the station. A few blocks into the quiet drive, Erik reached over and clicked the radio on. He fiddled with the knobs a bit before the static gave way to the funk of Cissy Strut. Erik bopped his head and drummed his thumbs on his thighs as Julia pushed the car further and further from the station. It took a few moments before he saw her fingers begin to lightly tap the steering wheel. He was glad for the energy shift. For as angry as he may be, the last two days were par for the course. Try to uplift your people and you should expect the weight of the world to come crashing down around you. 

“Hungry? I can only imagine the dog food they’re serving in there.” 

“You know it. Whatcha got in mind, sweet cheeks?” 

She cracked a smile for the first time since he’d seen her. “You’ll see.” 

Erik had been expecting them to make their way back to the school. He was actually anxious to get back to business. He knew supplies needed to be ordered and the wasted food replaced. His anger came back in spades. So much work had gone into securing donations from local stores. So much effort had gone into fundraising for what they couldn’t find via kind hearted community members. Erik felt the good vibes of the music dissipating. His hands fisted in frustration. The car was plunged back into the silence when Julia reached over to turn the volume to nothing.

“Get out of your head, N’Jadaka.” Her voice was quiet, but full of censure and concern.

“I can’t…”

“You can. I’m asking you to. Can you do that for me?”   
“You got it.” 

She hummed her thanks at him and before long she was pulling the sleek car in front of a neatly kept home not too far from the school. 

“Yours?” he questioned, pulling himself from the car. 

She nodded. “Passed down for three generations.” 

There was something wistful in her voice as she came to a stand still in the clipped grass framing the walkway. Erik took a place beside her. 

“Tough to keep it in black hands, right?” 

“If only you knew. Come on. Let me tell you why we have much bigger things to worry about.”


	3. Chapter 3

Recommended Listening: It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World (Live at the Apollo 1967) by James Brown and California Dreamin’ by Bobby Womack

“Shoes,” Julia commanded as soon as Erik set foot into the foyer. 

He watched her for a beat before he realized what she wanted him to do. She plopped down onto the small bench positioned just behind the door and removed her shoes, tucking them beneath the open space below it. He took a seat beside her and bent to unlace the heavy black boots encasing his feet. When he rose, his joints cracked. He caught the light laughter from beside him. It sounded like music.

“You think this is a gas, huh?” Erik chuckled back at her before bumping his shoulder against hers. 

“Indeed, Brother Stevens. Come on. I’ll give you the tour.” 

Erik watched the sway of her hips in the black pencil skirt, something he’d never done before. He shook his head and focused.

“Living room, obviously,” she murmured while making her way over to a record player perched on a side table. An impressive collection of records was neatly lined in a small shelf beside it. 

“Anything you’d like to hear?” 

“You’re a pretty heavy chick, Jules.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Her arms crossed beneath her breasts.

“You’re real straight-laced, ya dig? Whatcha got? Classical? Maybe a little jazz?” he chided. Part of him wanted to see Attorney Johnson a bit ruffled. 

She grunted in annoyance and brushed by him to the stereo. She bent and rustled around on the shelf a bit before straightening and placing an LP on the turntable. The pop and hiss of the needle finding the groove filled the space between their bodies. When the first strains of Bobby Womack’s voice filtered through the speakers, Erik nodded his head in approval.

“Good enough, N’Jadaka?” 

“Right on, Jules.” 

Julia raised an eyebrow before continuing the tour. Erik was impressed. Her home looked exactly as he’d expected. Well kept with obvious nods to her blackness. He wanted to spend a few hours looking through the books arranged on two tall bookcases braced on either side of a hallway entry. Everything around him looked inviting. Where his apartment looked like just a place to crash, Julia’s looked like home. There were pictures on the walls, photos that told the story of her family. Erik’s heart hitched. Family was what he made it these days. 

“The powder room and bedrooms are down that hall. I figured you may want to freshen up before I take you back to the center.”

She reached into a nearby closet and produced a fresh set of towels and washcloths. 

“Sorry, I don’t have anything for you to change into. But at least you can get the stench of that place off your skin.” There was anger in her words.

“You cool?” 

Julia drew in a deep breath and exhaled. “Yes..no…I suppose I’m just frustrated.” 

She braced her hands on her hips and rolled her neck.

“I spend all day helping to defend white men and women who barely see me as a human being, let alone equal. I’m like a dog and pony show. A shining example of the upwardly mobile Negro.” 

“Jules…”

“No. I get paid to do just that, but then I spend my free time making sure those who really need defending have a voice. The bugged out thing is half the time I’m just running in circles. Protecting those who end up victimizing my own people.” 

Erik took a step towards her. Her raised palm stopped him. 

“Everything you need should be under the sink. I’ll make you lunch. Go on now.”

Erik would let her have a reprieve, but he wasn’t done with Julia’s frustration yet. This was the first time he’d seen her threads showing. It worried him, but also sparked something within him. Her passion was like a magnet. He wanted more time to pick her brain about her work at the school and what she really wanted to do with her career. 

When he emerged from the bathroom, Erik’s stomach directed him to the kitchen. It hadn’t been on Julia’s tour, but whatever she’d made while he was meditating under the showerhead smelled heavenly. 

“Finally done using all my hot water?” The levity was back in her voice.

“That shower is a black man’s heaven!”

The peal of laugher that erupted from Julia warmed Erik. 

“Have a seat,” she ordered, her back to him as she stirred and plated food at the stove.

“So, this is what my Jules look like when she’s not being a badass?” 

He quickly memorized the way she filled out the pale blue pedal pushers and tank matched with a pair of bright white Converse sneakers. Her hair was held back from her face in a large puff atop her head. She looked relaxed and Erik was glad to be able to be privy to it. He was well aware Julia outside the confines of her home was cool, collected, and fierce. Here, or at least in the present moment, she looked vulnerable and very much like a woman a bit unsure of herself. 

“Your Jules is a regular person, Mr. Stevens. Even I put down the world at times.” 

Erik knew she was telling him he should do the same. He gave her a hearty thanks when the brimming plate slid in front of him. A glass of iced tea settled next to his arm. Between bites, Erik peppered the room with questions.

“You said there’s some heavy shit coming?”

“Eat. We have plenty of time to discuss that. We’re putting down the world, remember?”

Erik was beginning to understand one thing very clearly. If Julia didn’t want to do it, she wasn’t going to do it. He’d save himself a world of aggravation if he remembered that. 

***

“Tell me what you know about this neighborhood,” Julia questioned when she took her seat on the sofa next to Erik. She stretched her arms above her head until her body tightened like a bow. When she relaxed, it was as if her limbs became liquid. It made Erik’s tension melt in turn. Her voice rose slightly and melded with the lyrics of the record spinning on the turntable. 

This is a man's world//But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing, not one little thing, without a woman or a girl  
He's lost in the wilderness//He's lost in bitterness, he's lost lost…

 

Erik let his eyes close. The smooth alto of her melody washed over him. When he opened his eyes again, Julia’s brown ones bore into his. There was a beat of heat between them before Erik pulled himself together.

“Solid middle class black folks. City workers and the like.”

Julia hummed, her fingers pulling open the drawer on the coffee table. She gathered a beautifully carved ebony wood box and used a painted toe to close the drawer again before drawing her legs beneath her. Flipping open the box, she threw a sidelong glance at Erik.

“And how long ago was that?”

“A year. What’s the deal?”

“Quite a bit can change in a year, N’Jadaka. That’s what this block used to be. I’m one of the few black holdouts. You see how close we are to the water, right? This, and where the school is built, is prime real estate. Times are a changin’.”

Erik nodded curtly. Her deft fingers were breaking up a small cluster of herb. He cleared his throat and she looked up.

“What? I’m a lot looser than you think I am. Open your mind.”

He let the silence build between the pleading of James’ voice. Within a few moments, Julia pointed a perfectly rolled joint his way.

“Guests first,” she joked.

Erik took the offering and scooped a heavy marble lighter from the table. The red ember of the tip glowed in the dimmed room. He let the smoke curl from between his lips a few times before passing it back to her. Julia mimicked his actions.

“Now, sweet cheeks, tell me what’s rattling around in that brain of yours.”

Julia took another puff and sat up a bit. “All day I sit around and shuffle papers for a group of attorneys I would destroy if ever given the chance to litigate. But you know what I do get to see?”

Erik pulled a drag and held it until his lungs burned a bit. “What’s that, doll?”

“The madness about to breakout all over this city. You have no idea just how unscrupulous the underbelly of this government is.”

Erik pointed to his mouth, and then lifted his shirt. Julia acknowledged his pain with a grimace.

“The cops are just the surface of it. Believe me, I have plans for them. I’ll make you commissioner by the time I’m done.”

Laughter broke out between them. The last pleas of James Brown echoed in the room. Julia tilted her head towards the record player.

“Again?” she asked, rising from her perch. 

He nodded and reached for the box to roll another joint. Julia placed the needle to the wax again, swaying gently before the stereo. Something in Erik made him relinquish his hold on the freshly rolled grass and cross the room to Julia. He snaked his arms around her waist. He felt her jolt a bit, but soon her fingers intertwined with his against her belly. He found the rhythm of her body and fell in time with it. They moved in sync until the record ran its course a second time. At the last hiss echoing in the room, Julia moved from his arms. 

“N’Jadaka…”

“Don’t sweat it, Jules. We’ll revisit this later,” he said as he guided her back to the sofa and pulled her legs across his lap. 

The flame of the lighter burned for a brief moment followed by sweet smoke. He puffed then passed to her. She inhaled, tilted her head back, and blew smoke rings towards the sky. 

“They’re going to try to take the center, ‘Daka. All that hard work down the drain.”

Erik massaged her calves to keep his anger in check. “You got a line on how?”

She hummed in affirmation. “Been sneaking out bits and pieces of intel since I stumbled across it. Those raids aren’t just friendly hellos. They’re digging and sooner than later they’re going to find whatever they’re looking for.”


	4. Chapter 4

Recommended Listening: Ghetto: Misfortune’s Wealth by 24 Karat Black and Smiles Faces Sometimes by The Undisputed Truth

 

The sounds of garbage trucks and birds jolted Erik to consciousness sometime later, his hand sliding its way up his body. His fingers sought the same thing each morning, the cool gold links around his neck and the heavy weight of a ring. His anchor and bridge between the present and the past. Erik panicked when he found the space in the center of his chest was empty. His breathing became ragged, his pulse quickened. He’d been doing such a good job at holding himself together, but of all the places to crash and burn, he certainly didn’t want to do so in front of Julia.

As his mind came fully awake, he settled into the memory of being in her home and the chaos of the prior forty-eight hours. Losing his bearings was a rare thing for him these days. Through careful action and dedication, he’d learned to master his emotions. Erik was observant to a fault. Most of his waking hours were spent on high alert. He always knew his exits. He tended to memorize the placement of items in any space he occupied. Erik wanted control and he wanted peace. Right now, he was struggling with both. Jules had laid it on him before they’d both drifted off into slumber. Erik had always known the man played dirty pool, but in this instance his mind was blown. Too much dedication and love existed in their little slice of black heaven on Earth to watch it drown in a sea of white faces cresting over the horizon. Between him, Jules, and the community at large the school and its attached center were thriving. They offered services often neglected by city officials. They were even seeking medical staff to man a small triage for emergencies. He wasn’t willing to see all of that go down the drain for simple greed and power grabs.

Erik’s attention shifted to the gentle rise and fall of the body just out of the corner of his eye. Julia’s legs were still spread across his lap, the shapely calves propped one atop another on his thigh. Some time in her sleep, she’d turned her body towards the sofa back and curled up as much as she could without leaving the warmth of his frame. She looked peaceful, secure. Pride lingered at the edge of his thoughts. He’d like to think he’d had a hand in that. Even the quieting sight of his Jules finally at rest wasn’t enough to calm his heart.

“Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth,” she murmured through the last vestiges of sleep.

Erik wanted to smile at the way her nose scrunched and her eyes slid open and then closed again as the room’s light hit them. One slender hand reached up to scrub those same eyes before she finally opened them.

“Are you listening to me, N’Jadaka? I can feel you shaking.” Julia pushed herself to sitting to press a hand to his heart. “In and out, dig?”

Erik’s self-imposed trance was broken by the heat of the contact and he pulled a deep breath into his nose then released it so slowly he felt his chest tightening. It took a few moments before the tremors ceased.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he muttered. He was embarrassed that this time it was his threads showing and not hers.

“No problem,” she offered as she made moves to rise from the sofa.

Erik’s hand wrapped an ankle to stop her. “Stay for a few more minutes.”

He hoped she understood she was grounding him. All he needed was a little while longer to piece his mind back together. By the way her gaze softened and her head dipped, he knew she understood. She moved closer to him, drew herself upright until their thighs pressed together and her arm circled his shoulders. Like a magnet, his head rested against her.

“Jules?”

“Yea?” Her fingers found the scruff of his beard and started a pattern of massage meant to soothe.

“Thanks. For everything. I owe you big time.”

“Shush! You owe me nothing. You’re my people, N’Jadaka and I take care of my own.”

She gripped his chin enough to make him look up at her. “Got it?”

He held her gaze for seconds that seemed like forever. “You’re my people too, Jules.”

Erik swore he felt her lean towards him, but in a flash she was on her feet and moving towards the back of the house. He groaned in frustration and wiped a heavy hand across his face. “This chick is gonna be the death of me.”

When Julia returned, her steps were measured. He could see her walls rising again. She took her perch on the sofa once more. This time he missed the press of her body to his. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her that went unanswered. Julia reached out and looped the chain around his neck.

“Now it’s back where it belongs,” she said, arranging the ring until it lay flush and proud against his black t-shirt.

Erik’s tongue darted out to moisten his lips. At another time and in another life… He couldn’t, wouldn’t, let himself finish the thought. Instead, he moved until his lips were pressed against her forehead. It was a thank you that he wasn’t able to vocalize in the moment.

***   
“Big Brother Erik!”

The chorus of small voices rushing towards him made a smile wider than he expected to break across his face. He braced himself for the impact of the tiny arms and legs hurtling towards him. The first of them hit with a soft impact that threw him a bit off balance. Erik let the additional weight of the toddlers’ bodies bring him to the carpet of grass under his feet. All around him, the air was filled with questions.

Where were you? Are you hurt? What’s jail like? Are they coming back? What did we do?

Erik did his best to answer them as honestly as he could and with as much tact as he could muster. He gratefully accepted the hugs, happy to be among such warmth. If only for a moment, it helped to quell his rising anger at the trampled garden peeking from behind chicken wire and the door being rehinged after being kicked down. Two days later and they were still righting the world. 

“Alright now, children! Let Mr. Stevens get up!” Julia called out with humor. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Erik shifted his eyes to her and read the promise she intended to keep. He knew that whatever trouble was brewing on the horizon, she would be there fighting beside him. Last night had solidified that. Erik tickled a few more bellies and gathered himself before rising to his feet. Just as quickly as they came, the bevy of young people melted back into the world around them. 

“They really love you.”

Erik felt the heat rise in his cheeks. “Yea, I guess they do. I’m just glad to see everybody’s solid.”

“Uh huh,” she clucked over her shoulder as she ducked into the open door and towards her desk. As usual, Erik followed without being told to do so. Jules was now on the back burner. Attorney Julia Johnson was back in control. 

***

Erik’s eyes followed the path of Julia’s fingers as they moved along the thick, red line she’d drawn on a map of Oakland. Her skin against the paper rasped in the quiet around them. A desk lamp shone down onto the section in question so the shadows of their bodies lorded over their little slice of the world. That crimson line snaked its way around the school, skirted around Julia’s block and those branching from it, and ended at the edge of the water. The large swatch of land, and all of the houses and businesses built upon it, were the heart of where he and Julia lived, worked, and fought.

His skin flushed with anger and he slid the black leather jacket from his frame, flexed his shoulders in his t-shirt before again bending over the desk next to Julia. His hands planted at the map’s edge next to hers. He turned his head and caught her profile. She was intensely staring at the boundaries, her fingers making patterns he knew meant something to her. 

“What’s the deal with them buying up everything? They gonna sell it off for profit?” 

“They aren’t simply buying, Mr. Stevens. They’re taking, too. How many black folks do you know have the proper paperwork showing deeds were correctly passed hand to hand after someone’s gone on to glory?” 

Erik mulled her question for a moment. “So, they’re trying to say these people are squatters? Those are family homes, Jules!”

“And that matters to the city for what reason? Between trying to evict what they deem squatters, devouring homes for past due taxes, and simply buying out the poor, these developers are on a steady path to their capitalistic dream. It’s not about buying and selling, N’Jadaka.” 

“Then what’s it about, Princess?” 

“If you’re going to call me that? At least use Amira. Cool?”

The slick smile on her face broke the tension for only a split second. “I can dig it.”

“Now, it’s not buying and selling they want. It’s long term profits. If you can buy whole city blocks, rebuild them to your specifications, and then rent them to the highest bidder how much money would you stand to make?” 

“More than any black man or woman would ever see,” Erik sneered.

“Exactly. They’re setting up generational wealth on our backs and the ashes of our communities. I will not have it!” 

One of Erik’s hands made its way to the small of her back. “In and out. In and out.”

When she eased, he broached his next question. “How are they going to take the center?”

“Because of you. You topple and all this goes to shit.”


	5. Chapter 5

Recommended Listening: Cigarettes and Coffee by Otis Redding and A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke

Julia was extending a cup of coffee towards Erik when he looked up from the table. He closed his fingers around the china mug and let the heat sink into his palm.

“You look like you need this,” she said as she slid into the booth opposite him.

“Thanks.” He directed his attention out of the large diner windows. The asphalt was golden from the streetlamps and brightly colored neon of the trolley car diner. Most nights, Erik would have appreciated the sights around him, but his heart was uneasy at the moment.

“I would appreciate it if you looked me.”

Erik flitted his gaze to her briefly before directing it into the black liquid before him.

“Unacceptable. You will not shut down nor will you be ashamed. Do you hear me?”

Erik stilled. All things eventually come to light. No matter how far and how fast, you can never really run from your past. He’d excused himself from Julia’s desk earlier that afternoon without a word. By the time he realized where he was, the sand was shifting beneath his boots. He’d propped his elbows atop his knees and stared out over the water for what had seemed like an eternity. When he’d come back to himself he was standing in the parking lot of the diner looking up at the flickering neon sign like a beacon. That was three cups of coffee and two slices of pie ago. He’d been doing a good job of ignoring everything around him so the jingle of the bell above the door hadn’t been enough to break his contemplation. It was the heady scent of coffee and lavender and the smooth hand holding the drink towards him that did so.

“I’ve been looking for you nearly all night. I’m not going away so spill it.” Her tone was even as she raised a hand for the waitress. Her voice softened as she ordered a mug of tea for herself.

Erik honed in on the clink of the spoon against the china before he spoke.

“What do you want to know, Jules?”

She cocked her head to the side. “N’Jadaka…”

“I should probably step back from the school. It’s best, ya know?”

Julia tutted. “Why? And be honest with me.”

“I got a past, Jules. Stuff they can use to swoop in and wreck everything we’ve built. Let me just fade to black.”

“So you think your past, whatever it may be, just disappears because you aren’t at the center each day? Because it doesn’t. Your spirit and hands are all over that place and you going away does nothing to erase that. It makes us weaker.”

Erik pulled his stare from the coffee before him and brought it to Julia. “You don’t know what they have on me.”

“Then tell me and let me figure out a plan,” Julia whispered fiercely. “I know they’re targeting you and I know who your father was. Trust me, Erik.”

When Julia used his government name, Erik knew she was angry. Right now, she was his anchor and if she was gone he didn’t know what he would do.

“Let me lay it on you then. Back a few years ago I was into some heavy trouble. I had no direction. It was all streets all the time. “

Julia abandoned the tea in her hands and pulled his across the table.

“After my old man died…”

“He didn’t die, N’Jadaka. He was murdered. By one of our own.”

Erik squeezed her hands. He was glad she acknowledged his father’s death in the proper way. Most times, people just glossed over his death and shied away from discussing how he actually died.

“After that night, I just lost all sense of self. I joined up with some local hoods and ran wild for a bit. Got a reputation for being able to fight and intimidate.” He tried to lighten the mood by flexing one thick arm.

“Go on,” Julia urged. She wasn’t impressed.

“I became an enforcer, kinda. Whatever needed done I did, dig. I hurt a lot of people.”

“Then how did you end up here? Pouring your all into the community?”

Erik wished he could tell her how much he’d needed someone to listen to him without judgement. How much he appreciated her doing just that. 

“I got caught up in a job that went bad and the pigs showed up. Jules, I watched them nearly kill a man that night for no reason other than he was black. I attacked to protect him and hurt one of those bastards bad. Spent three years in a hole for that. They’ve been on my back ever since.”

Erik didn’t want to share how close he’d come to losing his mind in that cell. He’d been isolated, sometimes left in the dark for days on end. Over a thousand nights in captivity gave him the time to figure out who and what he was. He was a black man in America who’d been terrorizing his own community. Shame became a constant companion. His father would have wanted so much more for him. He’d listened to the stories of how his family was of royal blood and even the racism and classism of America’s fabric couldn’t strip him of that. But he’d never had the chance to learn just what his father meant before he’d come home to the sight of the man’s last gurgling bits of life. Erik had watched a small cadre of black men and women ducking into a car that seemed as long as the block. He’d caught the eye of one of them, a man who shared the shadow of his father’s face before the lot of them cruised down the street more slow than fast. 

He didn’t want Julia to pity him. Hell, he hadn’t wanted her to know who he was before she came into the center. He was embarrassed and now he was furious that the world was crashing down around him. Erik pulled his hands back across the table and wrapped them around the mug once more. 

“You think that changes how I see you?”

Erik shrugged his shoulders and refused to meet her eyes.

“Words, please.” 

Erik tried to keep the sneer from his face. “Yea. I’m bad news so just cut ties now.”

“Or you let me help and figure out just where their plans lead.” 

“Not gonna matter, sweet cheeks. Let me be,” he barked, hoping to scare her away so he could sulk alone. 

He felt a pang of guilt at her slight recoil but made no move to stop her when she gathered her purse deliberately as she glared at him. 

“I’d assumed we were better than that, N’Jadaka.” 

Erik slammed his hand on the table when the bell above the door signaled her departure. He bounced his foot in annoyance, unwilling to go after her. It was better this way, but when the roar of the Mustang’s engine echoed through the parking lot, Erik threw a few dollars on the table and bolted after her. He caught up with her before she could pull out of the parking spot. He leaned into the open driver’s side window.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Julia’s face was set in stone. 

“For pushing you away.” 

“Do you really want me to cut ties with you?” Something in her features softened. Erik leaned in closer. 

“Nah. You’re my Jules. Me and you against the world, right?” He held up a fist for her to bump.

It took more than a few heartbeats, but she finally extended her hand out of the window and tapped her knuckles against his. 

“You know I have your back no matter what. I’ve seen your heart.”

Erik’s face cracked into a smile for the first time that night. It was small, but it was a start. The air between them charged, the same as it had been on the sofa that night. This time she couldn’t run so Erik leaned even closer and pressed his lips tentatively to hers. She pressed back and gave Erik permission to taste her as he’d been wanting to do for months. He held her mouth for a lingering moment before pulling back. 

“Get in,” she giggled. 

She didn’t have to tell him twice. 

****   
The distinctive whoosh of fire launching through the air and igniting everything around it woke Erik from slumber. He felt Julia stir, her hips snuggling back into his pelvis. He groaned, unwilling to let go of sleep nor the woman pressed so tightly to him. But Erik knew that sound and he knew it was dangerous. Unlocking his arm from around Julia, Erik pressed his feet to the floor and pulled his discarded blue jeans onto his hips. He padded his way up the hallway and into the living room quietly as not to wake her. 

As soon as he breeched the threshold of the room, the soft orange glow through the curtain sheers drew his attention. Erik knew the way flames licked and the quiet light they emitted before everything was engulfed. Color gave way to sound and he realized it was a roar. He could make out the burning husk of Julia’s car through the bay window overlooking the driveway. Its windows were blown out from the heat of the flames and Erik could decipher scrawling letters gleaming against the black paint. Nigger. He caught fire himself, rushed to the door only to find the doorknob singed his palm. 

Quicker than he thought he could move, Erik propelled himself back down the hallway towards the bedroom. Julia had shifted to her stomach, her legs sprawled across the sheets. 

“Jules? Babe, wake up! We gotta go,” he shouted as his hands sought any scrap of fabric to pull over her nakedness. 

She grumbled in her sleep but made no move to rise. 

“Jules!”

Erik’s fingers clasped around a piece of clothing he recognized as his shirt. He dragged Julia across the mattress by an ankle to her waking protests.

“What in the heavens!”

“Fire. We gotta go. Now!” Erik hissed as he pulled the shirt over her head and pressed a pair of slippers to her chest. 

He’d worry about her wide eyes and the sheen of tears in them later, but for now he needed to get her out of the house and away from danger. He’d nearly gotten her to the rear door, when Julia twisted from his grasp and bolted towards a room he’d never entered. Erik let a savage curse loose and ran after her. He found Julia furiously digging through the drawer of a cherrywood desk. She let out a sigh of relief and rose with a cache of folders and papers. She stuffed them hastily into a leather satchel and moved to another corner of the room. 

“Let’s go! I’ll drag your ass out of here if I have to, Jules!”

He watched as Julia spun the combination dial of a lockbox several times without success. The defeated hunch of her body made Erik scoop her over his shoulder while plucking the box from the floor with his free hand. Re-entering the hallway, his throat burned with the acrid smoke filling the small space. He felt Julia’s breath coming in shaky gasps which morphed into racking coughs. Thankful for the sight of the door, Erik reared back one bare foot and kicked with everything in him. Pain shot through his shin, but the splintering wood made the feeling disperse quickly. Out in the clear air of the night, Erik brought Julia to her knees beside him, their breath coming in ragged pulls and bursts. 

They stared at her home, ringed on all sides by fire, in silence. The cries next to him started quietly then increased in volume until Julia was bellowing a full-throated scream into the darkness. Erik recognized the sound. He’d let loose the same cacophony when his father’s body had gone cold in his arms. He listened to her sob for a small moment in time before pulling her towards him. She relented, pressing her palms to her thighs and staring at the history of her family turning from solid to ash to memory. Off in the distance, Erik’s ears picked up the approaching din of firetrucks and emergency vehicles. He bristled knowing the quick response was due to the rapidly changing composition of the block not the need of the woman loudly breaking beside him.

Erik reached for her again, his fingertips brushing her shoulder.

“C’mere, sweetheart.” 

This time she let her full weight sink into his arms. He pulled her flush to him and tucked her head beneath his chin. The intensity of her sobs shook both of them. 

“I know. I know. I know,” he cooed at her. He tried to soften his voice despite the rage flowing through him. “I’ll take care of you, Jules.”

Erik held her until the jangle of fire equipment and the crackle of flames being extinguished filled the space around them. They remained kneeling in the grass until everything had cooled to ember. Erik kept a careful hand on Julia as he spoke with the first responders. She was dazed, shifting her eyes from her wringing hands to her charred childhood home. The tears came and went. Erik yearned to take her back to his place, away from what he was sure was now imprinted into her mind for a lifetime. He shook her softly to break her daze. 

“Sweetheart, the fire’s out, okay?”

She nodded.

“I’m gonna take you to my pad to crash. We’ll come back after you rest.”

Another nod.

Erik knew words wouldn’t come for her so he wrapped her in his arms until her forehead was cushioned against his bare chest. He stood there, rocking her, until the sun fully crested over the horizon and the destruction around them was clear.


	6. Chapter 6

Erik rapped his knuckles against the heavy wood tentatively. 

“Jules?” He called as he cracked the door. “I’m coming in, cool?” 

When there was no answer, Erik was not surprised. She hadn’t said a word since they’d arrived at his place hours ago. He slipped into the bathroom, leaving the door ajar to let out some of the steam filling the space. Julia was just as he’d left her, soaking in the deep tub full of warm water he’d doctored with bath salts and oils. One slender hand hung over the tub’s edge, fingers nearly grazing the floor. Her gaze was locked on the spigot, eyeing the steady drip plopping into the water covering her. 

After the chaos of the fire had settled, he’d slipped Julia into a cab beside him, careful to shield her from the slurs spray painted on her car and the front walkway. She’d collapsed onto the vinyl seat next to him, her tears sliding down his bare chest until they’d arrived at his home. He’d stripped away his t-shirt and tried to coax her into the shower to no avail. Instead, he pulled a clean shirt over her head and held her until her body finally relented. Now, he was clean, dressed, and doing his best to tuck in his anger for her sake. 

“Sweetheart, you’re gonna prune.” He tried to elicit a laugh and failed. 

She wouldn’t look at him. Erik knew it was shock. Everything she’d ever known had burned or was waterlogged. He hadn’t broached the topic of what she’d saved, but at least she had something. He moved towards her until he was seated on the floor next to the ceramic basin. 

“I know you’re hurting. I do, Jules. But you gotta fight, you hear me?” 

She sniffled but didn’t respond. 

“You’re my people. Whatever I have is yours. Anything. Just talk to me.” 

Her submerged hand emerged from the water and raked across her face. The remaining soot of the evening streaked her cheeks. The water was murky, a deep gray from the ash melting from her skin. Erik reached a bare arm into the tub and pulled the stopper. The suck of water echoed briefly. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up.” He lifted her from the tub without much effort and sat her on the commode. She seemed unfazed by her nudity nor his presence. Erik suppressed the brief flash of memory of her beneath him and how their bodies fit together perfectly. 

He cleaned the tub quickly and refilled it before lifting her back into it. She sank in silently. Erik gripped her chin and turned her face until her watery eyes were on his.

“I know that darkness, babe. You gotta come back to me. Let me carry it with you.” He didn’t care if she heard the pleading in his voice. He wanted her to. He wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone.

When she didn’t answer once more, Erik pressed his lips to her forehead. 

Mornings after tragedies are always bright. Brightness of grief, that is. Those mornings are so overwhelming that you can’t see beyond the light. There’s only the endless white of what you’re trying to escape from. Erik knew it well and he’d lost himself in it for longer than he cared to admit. He was trying to stop Julia from going down that exact same path. He knew that on the other side was a darkness so deep it was hard put one foot in front of the other, hard to see your hand in front your face. Erik wanted to be her anchor in the here and now.

Julia’s eyes were blank and that scared Erik. He could tell she was still there, but she was so deeply into her thoughts that she wasn’t interacting with the outside world at all. She hadn’t spoken, had barely moved, since they’d exited the cab. Erik cupped water into his hands and let it cascade onto her hair until it was wet enough to shampoo. He plunged his fingers into her scalp and flexed. 

They existed in those moments, Erik doing his best to be gentle and Julia withdrawn, until he heard a faint whisper.

“It’s all gone…” Julia’s voice trailed off, breaking a bit of Erik’s heart with the rasp that emitted from her throat.

He didn’t want to stop whatever she needed to say so he simply hummed and prayed she continued. He concentrated on his fingers buried in her hair hoping it would calm both of them in the same turn. 

“Gone. My legacy burned to the fucking ground,” she whispered harshly.

Erik had never heard her words so uncontrolled. 

“My family fought and died for that home. And it’s gone.” Her voice shattered and it took a few moments of deep breaths before she composed herself as best she could. 

“It’s my fault….”

“Don’t!”

“My fault. My fault! My fault!!” Each repetition increased in volume until she was screaming as she had at the fire. 

Erik did his best to rinse the shampoo from her hair as quickly as possible. He needed her in his arms for her sake and his. Satisfied, he made a move to lift her from the tub a second time. Julia sank her body deeper.

“No. I’m not clean.” 

Erik knew it wasn’t just her skin she was talking about. “Whatever you need,” he assured as he lathered a washcloth and ran smooth passes down her shoulders. “I got you, Jules.”

***

Erik was rifling through his drawers when the whistle of the kettle sounded in the kitchen. He dropped the jumble of clothing in his hands to silence it before it disturbed Julia. He’d had a hell of a time getting her to sleep only a few hours ago. Each time she’d drifted off and he moved to slip from beside her, she would find a way to hold him near. When he was finally able to leave her side, it was late afternoon and the sun was just beginning to pull away to dusk. Erik was exhausted, but that was the least of his concerns. Julia’s world had turned to ash in a matter of hours. 

A rage he hadn’t felt in years would not leave his shoulders. He couldn’t be sure if the attack on Julia’s home was due to her refusal to sell or simple racism. Either way, someone had made sure her portion of the world was forever changed and had rewritten the history of her family. Erik hadn’t known the stability she had, but he ached for her as if he had experienced it firsthand. What it must feel like to know such a life and then have it snatched from you without warning. 

Erik had been puttering around the kitchen for a bit, restless and on edge like never before. He’d always felt a pull towards Julia but watching her in pain was overwhelming. He wanted to latch her to him and hold her until she was back to who and what he knew.

Erik hadn’t wanted to leave Julia alone, but he knew she needed space as well as rest. So, when she emerged from the bedroom wrapped in yet another of his shirts, barefoot and quiet, he moved towards her before he knew what he was doing.

“Hey,” he murmured into her hair. Its normal cloud was a now a mass of tight curls he’d never seen.

“Hi.” Her voice was weak but it was there.

“How’s my Jules?” A silly question, but one he desperately needed the answer to.

“Alive. That’s a start, right?”

Something in Erik stirred. There was a glimpse of his Julia. The woman was made of brass covered in silk. Even under duress, he could see her mind working and her resolve rebuilding. And while he wanted her to take every bit of time she needed to heal, Erik knew that he and Julia were similar to a fault. She’d run, throwing herself into the people and causes around her, until she broke. He’d be there to pick her up. 

***

“What do you need?” Erik bit out. He certainly hadn’t expected a pig and some sort of detective on the other side of his door.

“Well ain’t that a proper greeting, boy?” The uniformed man’s face twisted into a sneer Erik had no trouble determining as a healthy mix of racism and disgust.

He instinctively shifted Julia behind him. She lingered there for a moment before she moved shoulder to shoulder with him.

“I got ya boy…” Erik growled before Julia’s hand came to rest on his forearm.

He cocked his head towards her; saw the raw anger in her eyes despite the cool mask she wore. He conceded and took a small step back.

“How may I help you, officer?” Her words were measured and very much belonged to the Jules he was used to. “I’m sure you know it’s been quite a trying twenty-four hours.”

“Yes, Ms….” He looked down at the small notepad in his hands. “Johnson. I imagine it has been.”

Erik sensed the bare minimum remorse and bristled. Julia’s warm palm against his skin anchored him.

“You may call me Attorney Johnson. Now, how may I help you?”

The fuzz scoffed. “Apologies. About last night. Got any enemies that’d like to harm you?”

Julia’s dry laugh bounced between the men whose eyes were all focused on her. Erik thought she looked stunning and powerful dressed in the smallest dress shirt of his he could find with the sleeves folded around her elbows. But even though the garment fit her like a dress, he noted the gazes of the other men drifting over her brown thighs and calves. 

“Watch your eyes, gentlemen.” The sarcasm and threat was clear. 

Julia crossed her arms in front of her. “There are plenty of people who’d like to see me harmed, but I’m quite sure you know that already. Seeing as I’ve called my local prescient on numerous occasions concerning ongoing racial abuse and harassment in my neighborhood.” 

Erik lifted an eyebrow and Julia returned her own to signal she’d fill him in later. 

This time it was the detective who chimed in. He balanced a thick file in this hand. “Yes. I see that here. Too bad we were never able to pin down a suspect. It wasn’t for lack of trying.” 

“Lack being the operative word.” Her patience was running thin. “What exactly is the purpose of your visit, officers?” 

“Just routine procedure, Ms….Attorney Johnson. Gathering information. This is an arson investigation, you know.” 

“I’m well aware. Considering my home is the one burned to the frame. What do you need from me?” 

“Do you have insurance on the home? Any financial difficulties?” 

Erik was a moment from exploding. “You pigs are fucking unbelievable!”

“N’Jadaka…”

The small glance between the two men wasn’t lost on Erik.

“To answer your question. I do have insurance. And my premiums are paid in advance. Secondly, while my financial status is none of your business, I have more than enough income and savings to care for myself and my property. If you’re here to imply I set fire to my own home as some sort of insurance fraud, I would highly suggest you rethink your position and dial back your accusations. I don’t take kindly to my reputation or my family name being dragged through the mud.”

“No offense, but I’m just doing my job. And right now I don’t have any proof that those premiums are paid. You wouldn’t happen to have that do you? Maybe proof of ownership while you’re at it?” 

Erik could read the challenge in his statement. He knew something about the men wasn’t quite right. He just hadn’t been able to put his fingers on it. He felt Julia’s energy shift. She knew something was amiss, too. 

“In fact, I do. You see one thing you’ll learn about me if we continue this dance at a later date is that I’m always prepared. Now, officers, let me have your names so I can check the validity of your credentials since neither of you have managed to show me a badge,” Julia challenged.

If it was possible for a white man to go pale, Erik was witnessing it. 

“We certainly didn’t mean any disrespect. Just doing our jobs, right?”

Julia eyed them as they beat a hasty path off of Erik’s doorstep. She turned to him and he saw her resolve slip the tiniest bit. 

“This is so much deeper than I thought, N’Jadaka. They certainly weren’t real officers.” 

“That’s clear, Jules. The real question is how did they know you were here? They only people who know that are the officers I spoke to last night.”


	7. Chapter 7

Recommended Listening: Bang Bang by Nancy Sinatra, Good to Me by Otis Redding, and When Something is Wrong with My Baby by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas

Julia in the waning light of day was beautiful.

Erik watched her out of the corner of his eye as he drove. The setting sun was doing its best to turn her into gold. It was filtering through her hair and picking up the slick spaces on her bare forearms where a sheen of oil was still sinking in. He’d had a difficult time keeping his eyes off of the way her legs filled the seat next to him, her thighs encased in a pair of his jeans belted as tightly as they could be fastened and rolled to the ankles. The two of them had yet to venture to her home to see if anything was salvageable nor had she taken him up on his offer to go shopping. She seemed at peace in his oversized shirts and he was happy to oblige if only to see her fill them out.

Julia’s small grunt of appreciation when she settled into his ride was still rattling around in his head. Erik rarely drove, but when he did, it was in style. The ’65 Corvette was cherry red, fiery like him and just as loud when coaxed in the right way. Considering the beast of a machine she drove... had driven Erik corrected himself with a spike of anger. The flash of the black Mustang burning brightly orange from within was hard to shake as were the heavy white letters splashed across the driver’s side door.

That word, all six letters of it, were like punches to his gut. It wasn’t as if the two of them hadn’t had their fair share of it, but seeing such intimate violence attached to it was always a shock. Erik knew firsthand the weight of that word as it was thrown from those in authority, those same men sworn to protect and serve while serving no other purpose but the harassment of his community. And he now knew Julia had been dealing with it even from the safety of her own familial space. Erik’s hands gripped the steering wheel until he heard his knuckles crack.

“Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?” He bit out, trying to not seem angry at her.

He picked up the sigh from the other side of the car and felt a twinge of regret for bringing it up. His peripheral vision noted the way her hands wrung in her lap before swiping down the dark denim. 

“We’re more alike than you think, N’Jadaka.” Her gaze shifted out of the window and settled on the tick of the ocean and coast whipping by the side of the road. “I thought I could handle it alone. Still do, I suppose.”

“Nah. You ain’t alone, Jules. That’s the thing we both gotta get through our heads.” 

Erik maneuvered the car in silence for a few moments before clearing his throat. “Answer me. Please.”

“I didn’t tell anyone. I just kept my logs and made the reports as any upstanding citizen would do,” she scoffed. “Such a fool I was to think someone calling me a nigger or egging my house or following me would trigger anything. Maybe if I was blonde.”

Erik knew her anger well, but he hated hearing the bitterness creeping into her voice. Julia had always been strong, but that strength was always dignified and controlled. This Julia was raw and Erik wasn’t sure if that would work to her advantage in this situation. But something she’d said stuck in his craw. Following her?

“Followed?”

“More like lurked, perhaps. Sometimes I’d wake up and see an unfamiliar car parked across the street. There were times I would leave the office for lunch and notice the same duo every few days. You know with the dark suits and buzz cuts? Typical spy shit.” 

“Why in the hell didn’t you tell any of us?! One of us could have kept watch over you.”

“By one of us you mean you, right?”

Erik started to speak and then faltered. “Yea…I mean I’m the best.”

Julia’s peal of laughter bounced around the car. “Ego aside, why?”

“Because I care, Jules. Happy? I care and I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he confessed. 

“You care about what?” she prodded.

Erik growled. She was just as difficult as him. A match through and through. “You.”

“Excuse me? Could you repeat that? It was a little muffled.”

Erik moved his gaze from the road and glared at her. “You. I care about you. You’re so goddamn stubborn!”

“Duly noted.” It was all she offered before going silent. Erik stewed.

“So, you ain’t gonna say it back?” 

“I’ll think about it.”

For as frustrated as he was, Erik was glad to see some humor in her eyes. “Duly noted indeed, sweet cheeks.” 

****  
By the time Erik brought the car to a rest in front of a mid-rise office building, the sun was barely hanging on in the sky. The offices of Smith, White, and Cressman were impressive and had Erik not known just how brilliant Julia was he would have been surprised this was where she worked. He followed closely behind her as she smiled at the night watchman just coming on duty, a brother who seemed happy to see one of his own heading towards the elevators and the upper floors reserved for attorneys. Erik threw him a raised fist as the doors slid closed.

Julia’s office, a small closet of a room compared to the others, was neatly kept as he expected. Except for Julia something was very much out of order. He’d bowled into her when her forward movement stopped. His arms had instinctively moved around her waist to prevent her from falling, a decision that heated his skin. When she righted herself she’d moved quickly to a small cabinet against the far wall. 

“Someone’s been here,” she muttered while pulling open the drawers. “Damnit!” 

Erik moved his body fully into the room and closed the door behind him. He didn’t want prying eyes nor ears. “What’s the deal?”

“I kept my notes here. Things I’ve been filtering and lifting about these buyouts. It’s gone. Every scrap of it.”

Julia planted her hands on her hips and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Her foot tapped impatiently.

“Plan B,” she said, making a move towards a cedar chest behind the door.   
When she lifted the lid, the scent of wood and lavender filled the air. She pulled a perfectly stacked pile of clothes from the recesses of the box and then a pair of shoes. Erik raised an eyebrow. 

“When I first started I got all the grunt work. Sometimes I’d be here for days going over case files. I started keeping extra clothes and essentials here so I could look presentable. Can’t be Negro and unkempt, right?” 

Erik grunted his agreement and waited while she packed a small bag with the clothes, shoes, and a few files. Then he lingered as she typed a short notice to the senior partners explaining she was taking a few days of absence and would inform them of her return as soon as possible. The two of them exited the elevator shoulder to shoulder, Julia stepping off first and leading them back into the now darkened city. 

***

Julia in moonlight was beautiful, too.

Erik couldn’t shake the thought as once again he was observing her from the corner of his eye. Instead of the sun casting her gold, now the moon’s silver highlighted her cheekbones and while she intently read the file in her lap, the skin of her hands glowed the same. Erik was in much more trouble than he was willing to admit.

This time, hopefully their final stop of the night, they were headed to her home or at least what was left of it. And Erik was worried. It had only been days and he wasn’t quite convinced that she was ready to face the shell of what had been the hub of her family. But Julia had insisted all the while muttering about Plan B. She hadn’t quite gotten around to filling him in on what that meant. 

“We’re here, Jules,” he called gently as he parked at the curb. He retrieved a flashlight from beneath his front seat. 

The grass around the walkway was trampled; the slurs were still shockingly bright against the driveway’s concrete; and the husk of Julia’s home stood starkly against the night sky. Somewhere in this heart, Erik was glad it hadn’t been razed. His mind started to formulate a plan about what could be salvaged and just how to go about giving Julia back her home.

“I’m not thinking of rebuilding right now, ‘Daka,” she said as if reading his mind. 

Erik heard the tears in her voice. He saw she was trying to hide them so he pulled her close and waited for her to relax into his arms. She did and he tutted and cooed. 

“Let it out, sweetheart. You don’t have to be strong. Not right now.” 

Erik wasn’t sure how long they stood on the walkway, but when time started again the air had chilled even more and Julia was pushing from him and straightening herself. 

“Thank you.” Simple and to the point with no need to respond. 

He followed her over to the set of front steps now leading into the open gullet of the house. Erik could see through the unhinged door that the walls, ceilings, and floors were covered in soot, the furniture waterlogged. Julia stepped carefully into the mess despite Erik’s protests. The slosh of their feet in standing water echoed. He didn’t like the sound of the wooden floors groaning beneath them. 

“Jules, this is dangerous. Let’s go.”

She held one finger aloft and kept moving until she was back in the office she’d run to the night of the blaze. Erik sucked his teeth as he watched her pulling up the soaked carpet in a far corner. He shifted her to the side and finished the job in short order. The sight of a metal door beneath the once plush Berber whipped Erik’s head towards Julia. She simply shrugged and pulled at the large, ringed handle. The sound of rending and rusting metal drowned out the constant drip of water filling the house. When Erik’s confusion wore off, Julia’s body had half disappeared down a flight of wooden steps and into a bunker beneath the house. 

He joined her in a room finished in concrete blocks, a small living area set away from the door and a large tactical table similar to the one at the community school. Before he could say anything, just drug a large footlocker to the center of the room and pulling blueprints and invoices from the table and layering them into the box. 

“Seeing as I’m not sure when this house will be rebuilt, I’d like to make sure my work isn’t all for naught. Lend me a hand will you?”


	8. Chapter 8

Recommended Listening: A Song for You by Donny Hathaway and Do Right Woman-Do Right Man by Aretha Franklin

Erik set the flashlight on the table, its beam focused towards the low ceiling. Then he wrapped his thick fingers around Julia’s wrist and halted her movements. Her pulse was steady, unchanged in a way that made him know this wasn’t new to her. The room around him, had the overhead fluorescent lights worked, would have been impressive. He could make out a shelving unit neatly stacked with canned goods and jugs of water. A cot made with military precision was pressed against the wall and a footlocker similar to the one she was filling was positioned directly beneath it. Someone very familiar with military camp setups had placed the room in order. Erik wouldn’t have been surprised had he found a cache of weapons oiled and ready for use.

“What in the hell is this?” he gritted out. He wasn’t sure if he was upset about standing in the ruined shell of her home or that he was beginning to think he didn’t really know the woman standing in front of him. She had a bunker, a fairly well-equipped one, directly beneath her office and seemed the slightest bit fazed that she was packing it to move to another location he was sure existed. You can never really trust anyone. Not even someone who’d slowly worked her way into your heart, he fumed. 

She didn’t answer, but moved from his grasp and rotated her wrist. He hadn’t realized he’d been gripping her so tightly. Erik moved to comfort her, but she stepped back.

“Who are you, Jules? It is Julia, right?”

“Yes. The same Julia that just broke down in the front yard,” she stated simply.

“Nah. That Julia wouldn’t have a bunker under her house. Try again, sweetheart.” His irritation was starting to show.

“There’s no need to. I’m exactly the same person I was before that door opened. Is the problem that I’m not the meek and mild attorney you need to protect?” The bite in her words matched his.

Erik knew this was not the time or place to argue, but he was never one to back down. Especially when he thought he was right.

“I’m going to ask you one more time.” He stalked closer to her. “Who are you?”

She didn’t falter and matched his forward movement until they were nearly chest to chest.

“And I’m going to tell you one more time. I’m Julia. The question seems to be whom or what you are assuming I am.”

“I’m assuming I can’t trust you.”

He watched the widening of her eyes and then the steely resolve filtering back into them.

“I see. Well, in that case you can take your leave. I can handle this alone,” she threw over her shoulder as she bent towards the table and another stack of papers. “You can also take your flashlight. I have one of my own.”

He was dismissed. He didn’t like it, but he also didn’t like being lied to either. Erik snatched the flashlight from the desk and took the steps two at a time. In the darkness behind him, he swore he could hear the beginnings of her tears.

Erik stood on the walkway, his hands braced against his hips trying to figure out what to do. She was lying. He was sure of it. She still hadn’t shown him what she’d saved from the fire. The lockbox was still tightly sealed and the satchel of papers still clasped shut. Whatever was in them she wasn’t willing to share. Or ready he tried to convince himself, but he pushed that possibility from his mind. 

He wasn’t sure if he was waiting for her to emerge from the house or he was waiting to go back in, but after what seemed like forever he turned on his heel and headed towards the car. He let the engine roar to life and idle, part of him hoping the sound of his departure would make her rush to him. It didn’t and after a few guns of the motor he pulled slowly off the block.

***  
He waited an hour before he reversed his course and made his way back to the house. Erik carefully picked his way through the chaos and into the bunker. It was empty of the papers she’d been packing but everything else was neatly in order. Julia was nowhere to be found. He cursed loudly. He was furious with himself for leaving her, but a sense of pride crept into him. She’d lugged that heavy chest up the stairs and through the ruin of her home and became a ghost in an hour. He was impressed. Impressed but terrified. Julia was somewhere in the city, all her remaining belongings at his home or in his car. He could only hope she’d made her way back to his place. He’d give her another chance to be honest and then they could move forward on keeping her property and the community school in black hands.

Erik drove faster than he cared to admit, the anticipation of seeing Julia pressing his foot onto the gas pedal. He swung his car into the driveway and rushed through the door. 

“Jules? We gotta talk about this,” he called out. Nothing.

He made his way to the bedroom, hoped to see her curled with her back to the door as a sign of her anger. The bed was untouched. 

“Julia! Stop being childish. Let’s hash it out.”

No Jules in the bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom, or the basement. Erik started to panic. Of all the times for his stubborn pride and need to be right to rear its head, this was not the one. She’d told him of the men following her. He’d seen her life burned down around her. And he’d witnessed that even her workplace wasn’t safe from tampering. And now he’d pushed her out alone with a metal box full of stolen information and only the clothes on her back. He was an asshole. A very worried asshole who had no earthly idea where to find the woman he’d vowed to protect. 

Erik propelled his body onto the sofa, his mind tearing through ways to find Julia. He had to believe she’d left the bunker of her own volition. He’d seen no signs of a struggle. And he had to be correct in assuming she had a least some money on her because she wouldn’t have been able to move the footlocker by hand very far. He would have come across her dragging it up the block. Those thoughts settled his heart a bit, but until he saw her with his own eyes he knew he wasn’t going to rest. He vacillated between driving each block around her house and staying put on the chance she’d made an appearance in the next hours. Erik was sure Julia wouldn’t wander the streets alone considering all that had happened in the last days so he settled back into his seat.

His eyes drifted to the lockbox and the satchel perched atop the living room table. He’d dropped them there when he’d brought a dazed Julia home after the fire. Neither of them had thought much of them since. For as worried as Erik was about his Jules, he was also still very convinced she was hiding something from him. Whatever was in those vessels was his answer. Erik pushed himself from his lounging position and pulled the satchel towards him first. The clasp opened easily and he scooped out several files with stacks of documents written on Smith, White, and Cressman letterhead. A quick scan of the pages in one marked To Review showed retainer invoices to a Forrester Development Corporation along with detailed billings for two investigators. That particular bit of information piqued Erik’s interest. The file also contained memos between the CEO of the development company and the City Auditor’s Office.

Erik shuffled the papers until the picture became clear. Julia’s firm was the legal aid to the development corporation buying the property in and around the waterfront. The City Auditor, and from what Erik could tell the mayor, were providing the information needed to force people out. Police records, tax documents, deeds, and a world of other information put black citizens in the neighborhood at a distinct disadvantage. He felt the fury rise in his belly. He poured over the other papers, learning just how many homes had been snatched and just how many more were on the chopping block. By the time Forrester was done, the entire twenty block radius around the school and leading down to the ocean would be theirs. 

Erik’s eyes fell onto a series of neighborhood maps, finally discovering Julia’s after a few moments. Each house was neatly marked with a W or B. He had no trouble figuring out just what those letters meant. He sat in shock at the Bs crossed out with red lines and the Ws slowly taking over the block. Julia’s house, the lone B in the eight houses around her, was circled. It was clear she was the hold out. Erik stilled. They’d wanted her out my any means necessary and had been willing to burn her alive if need be. It made sense now why the two “officers” had shown up on his doorstep asking about her deed and insurance coverage. They’d assumed the documents had burned and Julia would have no way of proving what was hers or that she had the means to cover rebuilding. 

He said a quick prayer hoping that somewhere in the box was what she needed to keep the property with her bloodline. He didn’t find it and turned his attention to the lockbox. Erik hadn’t realized his hands were shaking until he was using unsteady fingers to break the combination code. When the lid lifted, Julia’s face greeted him, at least her as a child did. He’d know those eyes and that smile anywhere. Something in his chest fluttered. The box was chockful of pictures, a family bible, and mementos that made Erik glad he hadn’t forced her to leave it behind in the chaos. He fingered the ring around his neck. It was all he had besides memories that were starting to go fuzzy at the edges as time continued to slip by. 

Erik flipped through the photos, lingering on them occasionally. Julia had been loved and surrounded by family her entire life, but as he dug deeper into the lockbox he realized slowly she’d ended up alone. The obituaries of her parents, grandparents, and a smattering of other family members were neatly glued to cardstock and laminated. He wondered how many people she had left. She’d told him they were more alike than he knew. He felt guilty for abandoning her. It wasn’t about the danger currently swirling around them. She’d opened herself to him and he’d called her a liar and left her standing in the mess of her life, alone and believing he didn’t trust her. 

Seeing her father in a military uniform and reading articles about his community activism brought even more shame. Julia, in all of her dedication to the community school and the neighborhood, was simply following in her father’s footsteps. The bunker made sense as he skimmed a clipping of the firebombing of the home when Julia as ten. She’d been through this before. Erik cursed loudly into the quietness of his living room. The bunker was for safety and she’d turned it into a back up plan for what she knew was becoming more involved than anticipated. 

“Where are you, Jules?” Erik questioned to the emptiness around him. 

***

Morning came and Erik found himself sprawled across his sofa with Julia’s legacy spread across his coffee table. Before he’d drifted into blackness, he’d laid hands on a neatly bound stack of receipts dating back decades. Paid insurance premiums. He’d let out a whoop of joy as he thumbed through them. And then he’d placed his hands on a tri-fold deed with the proper transfers attached. His heart swelled. His Jules was a hard fox to outsmart. They didn’t know what they were up against. He’d taken a brief moment to lock the receipts and ownership documents into his home safe before returning to study the photos again. Then sleep had come for him swiftly.

Erik gave a sweep of the house before tucking in his disappointment that Julia hadn’t come back during the night. He couldn’t shake the fear and anxiety that coated his skin. He needed to find her. He dressed quickly and made his way to the school. It was time to get back into the swing of things. Maybe Julia was thinking the same.

The doors to the school opened promptly at 7:00am to a chorus of young voices shouting Big Brother Erik! He couldn’t help but to smile. It was a welcome distraction from his worry. Erik doled out fist bumps and black power salutes until each child was checked in and quietly munching on breakfast. He slipped away then and headed towards Julia’s corner. She wasn’t there and there was no sign she had been. He muttered yet another curse. The breakfast rush came and went with no sign of Jules and before he knew it the day was ending and he was back on his sofa, waiting for some sign of her. 

A quiet knock at the door stopped Erik’s leg bouncing rapidly. He groaned and pressed towards the annoying sound. Julia. He’d pulled her into the foyer and wrapped his arms around her before he knew what he was doing. She pressed against his chest and freed herself. 

“I need to get my things,” she gritted as she moved around him into the living room. He saw her steps falter.

“You had no right.” It was a whisper, but Erik could hear the pain in her voice.

He approached her slowly and stood next to her, his gaze landing with hers on the scattered pictures and documents. 

“I was worried. I was trying to figure out…”

“You were trying to prove I was lying!”

He didn’t know how to respond. “Jules…”

“Julia,” she said flatly as she scooped the papers into the lockbox and satchel. “My name is Julia.”

Erik ran a rough hand over his face. He watched her move purposely from the living room to the bedroom and back. “Let me explain. I know you were being straight up now.”

“Now? After you’ve gone through my things? After you left me standing in the ruins of my life?”

“You told me to leave!” He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.

Her eyes widened as they had in the bunker. She chewed at her bottom lip for a moment, contemplating what to say in response. Erik could see she was tired by the dusting of darkness rimming her eyes. Her hair was bound tightly at her neck and her glasses did little to hide the weariness in her gaze. 

“On that matter you are correct. You listened to my request so we are quite clear on where we stand. As I told you before, I can handle this alone.”

She pulled her bags onto her shoulders and gripped the handle of the lockbox then turned to leave. Erik’s world spun.

“No! You don’t have anywhere to go.”

The bitterness of her laugh surprised him. “I always have somewhere to go. We both know how resourceful I am.”

“Where were you last night?”

“Not important. I was safe. I’ll be the same tonight.” She started moving again.

Erik placed the bulk of his body between her and the door. He didn’t know what he hoped to accomplish by using his mass to stop her. He’d let her leave if that was her wish because he could never allow himself from physically stop her from leaving. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, hurt her.

“Stay. Stay and let’s hash this shit out.” 

“Let me go, Erik.” 

He recoiled at her use of his name and stepped aside.


	9. Chapter 9

Recommended Listening: Try Me by James Brown and Please, Please, Please by James Brown

 

“There you go listening to what I say again.” 

Erik turned towards the door to find Julia illuminated by the waning light in the sky. A small smile danced on her lips as she ducked her head. He moved to her swiftly and waved away the cab at the curb before kicking the door shut with his foot. He relieved her of the things in her hands before pressing her back to the door. 

“Don’t you ever leave me again. Do you hear me?” It was a warning and a fear Erik could read clearly. “Don’t make regret trusting you, N’Jadaka.”

He melted at the sound of his name dripping from her lips. He nodded and refused to let his eyes leave her face. His Jules. His Jules who looked exhausted and frightened and wholly beautiful all at once. His arms snaked around her waist and he sighed when hers found their place around his neck. His gaze held her fast in his arms. Outside the windows, he could hear rain starting to splatter the roof. 

“I’m just following the lead of the smartest woman I know,” he joked and was glad when she chuckled lightly.

Erik pressed his lips to her forehead then her cheek then her neck and finally to her lips. 

“My Jules,” he murmured without moving his mouth from hers. 

“Yours?” 

“Maybe. You’re a handful.”

“You’d have it no other way,” she smirked.

Erik grunted his agreement and angled his mouth over hers. He swallowed the noise of surprise that escaped her and fed her one of his own. Of their own volition, his hands made their way to cradle her face, his hips pressing forward until Julia was flush against the door and he was flush against her. Absently, he used his boots to shift the bags and lockbox from the area around their feet. All Erik could hear was the sound of their mouths meeting and his heartbeat in his ears. He needed her, had been terrified he’d lost her. He locked one thick arm around her waist and lifted her from her feet. He didn’t stop his forward movement until he was easing onto the sofa with her straddled across his lap. 

Julia stared down at him and Erik swore he was in awe of her. The last days had shown him just how intelligent, vibrant, and alluring she was. She was something he wanted to possess, but just like him he knew she needed both support and room to fly. He swept a lazy hand along her spine until her felt her relax into him, her head balanced in the crux of his neck and shoulder. The wisp of her breath settled into his skin and made his pulse quicken. 

“I’m sorry, Jules.” He hesitated at the nickname.

“I know. And Jules is fine.” Her words tickled against his neck. “I’m sorry, too.”

Erik hummed. 

“I should have told you about the bunker and Plan B.”

“When would that have come up, sweetheart? While you were trying to hold yourself together? I know you’re hurting.” 

It was her turn to hum. They settled into silence peppered with the sound of rain building in intensity. 

“Where were you last night? I almost searched every block of this city for you.” 

“Plan C. Otherwise known as a motel. I need to go back for my things.” 

Erik bristled to think of her alone when she could have been sleeping next to him. 

“Pick up any tails last night?” 

“Not that I could decipher. They aren’t the most stealth of spies. I took a few precautions in case I did, however.”

Julia’s voice was strong. Erik knew there was very little that could knock her off of her goal. He was glad she was fighting beside him. 

“I need you to rest and eat and then we’ll worry about heading over there? Cool? How long you have the room?” 

“Tomorrow.” Julia’s voice trailed off. 

“Didn’t sleep much?” 

She nodded and Erik remained silent until he felt her breathing even. Erik knew it was only a matter of time before Julia’s body would relent and she would crash under the weight of everything. He sunk his body deeper into the cushions and adjusted his arms around her before dropping his head onto her shoulder, their bodies curled around each other like ivy. He inhaled the scent of her, the smell of bergamot and lavender. Julia smelled like home. Like comfort and stability. Things Erik never knew he craved until the two of them had become constants in each other’s lives. Had he not been there the night of the fire…he shuddered at the idea. Had he not been there the world would have shifted on its axis. His world would have been cleaved and nothing would have stopped him from wrecking everything connected to that tragedy. 

The quiet breathing of the woman banded to his body helped calm the coil of anger pooling in his chest. When she awoke, they needed to talk about how to best utilize the information she’d been protecting for months. The sooner they expdose the corruption at the very core of the city and protected what was hers, the sooner he could go about the business of loving her. Loving. Erik wasn’t quite sure he knew what that meant, but he knew that Julia was firmly entrenched in his life and he wanted it no other way. 

 

***  
The cherry red Corvette seemed out a place in the parking lot of the motel. Had he not been able to take care of himself, and the woman next to him, Erik may have been worried about leaving his car there. Instead, he followed Julia up a set of narrow stairs to a door at the end of the third floor. He stood closely behind her as she pressed the key into the lock, felt the heat radiate between them before the door swung open.

Erik’s eyes shifted over the small room in frustration and maybe even a little bit of disgust. The tube television perched on the bedside table seemed dusty, the bed as far from comfortable as it could get. Beneath their feet, the nap of the carpet was worn and greasy and beyond the thin walls, he could make out the rhythm of a headboard, a litany of grunts, and the flush of a toilet. He felt a muscle jump in his jaw at the thought of Julia spending even a moment in the place.

Shaking off his observations, Erik moved towards the footlocker beneath the foldable card table. It was much lighter than he expected it to be.

“I hid the papers,” Julia called out from the bathroom. “Come help me.”

Erik entered the garishly pink tiled room to find Julia standing on the commode, her arms outstretched towards the drop ceiling. Her fingertips barely reached the off-white panels, but he could surmise she was trying to push it out of its frame. Erik culled her into his arms and placed her onto the floor. He found her jolt of surprise amusing.

“Let me,” he said as he took her place atop the porcelain and easily pressed the panel away from its resting place.

His fingers wrapped around a thick sheath of papers four times before Julia’s impromptu hiding place was empty of its contents.

“I have never met some with so many tricks up her sleeve.”

Julia simply shrugged. “Survival of the fittest, right? You know quite a bit about that.”

“Indeed. Let’s get the rest and get you back where you belong.” 

The weight of his words sat heavy between them. He could see her mind working overtime to find a retort. His was trying to conceive a way to disappear. Never had Erik felt this off kilter around a woman. Julia cleared her throat. 

“I’ll go return the key to the front desk if you’ll load the car. Sound good?” she tumbled out in a rush as she headed out of the room. “N’Jadaka? I care about you, too.”

It was a whisper as she pulled the door behind her, but Erik heard it as clear as day. 

***  
The thump of the trunk closing had barely stopped echoing before Erik made his way back across the parking lot and into the lobby of the motel. He bristled again at the sight of a shifty desk clerk making eyes at his Jules. He approached quietly and cracked his knuckles as he came to a stop next to her. The clerk’s eyes widened when Erik’s arm draped across Julia’s shoulder.

“Is there a problem, doll?” 

Julia batted her eyes, urging him to play along. “Oh dear, yes. The clerk was just explaining to me why I’m being charged for another night. I’m so confused. Would you please help me understand?” 

It took all he possessed for Erik not to double over in laughter. He pressed his lips into a serious line.

“Well, baby doll, that’s why it’s not wise for you to try handle things like this on your own. Now let us men talk. Will ya, kitten?” Erik cooed, tapping her on the behind slightly as she turned to leave the lobby.

If looks could kill…

When he rejoined Julia, his laughter pealed from deep within his belly. Julia tried her best not to crack a smile, but failed once Erik informed her the clerk had nearly choked Erik confronted him about lusting over his “wife”. She was wiping tears from her eyes when Erik’s laughter finally subsided. 

“You care about me, too? I the you know.” 

She ducked her head. “Maybe just a little.”

Erik shifted in his seat, the creak of his leather jacket dampened in the small space. “Only a little?”

His thumb traced her cheekbones. He felt her melt into his touch. “You sure about that, Jules?”

Erik wasn’t sure he would ever tire of watching emotions break across Julia’s face. Whether it be anger, lust, or love he wanted to memorize them all. A gasp from her broke the trance and his eyes followed her to a sight just over his shoulder. The “officers” who’d shown up at his door where making their way out of the lobby of the motel and headed to a black sedan.

“You seeing what I’m seeing?” Erik asked of the silent woman next to him. 

“Indeed I am. Shall we?” 

Erik brought the engine to life and smirked. “The hunters are the hunted now, eh?”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended Listening: What is Hip? by Tower of Power, Paint It Black by Carl B Stokes, and Coffee and Cigarettes by Otis Redding

Julia slouched down into the seat next to Erik, her thumbs drumming against her knees impatiently. They were two car lengths back from the plain black sedan they’d spotted at the motel. That had been miles ago and for the first time Erik was watching Julia’s patience running out. 

“Jules?” He draped his hand over hers. “Calm down, sweetheart.” 

She shifted her gaze from the vehicle to him. “I am calm. Shouldn’t we be closer?”

“You’re far from it. And we’re in a bright red car. I’m sure we aren’t that hard to spot.”

“If we were in my car…” Her words died on her lips and she shuddered in a shaky breath. 

His thumb worked against her pulse until he heard the soft release of her breathing. “There ya go. In and out, remember?”

Julia nodded at him before breaking the contact of their eyes. “They’re turning off.” 

Erik maneuvered the car smoothly onto the exit ramp and coasted to a stop behind the sedan. One pale hand extended out of the window, pointing towards a rundown diner just across the street. 

“You see that?” Erik asked without breaking his stare. One of the men glared back in the rearview mirror. Erik cocked his head and followed the car into the nearly empty lot. “If you see things go bad, run. Do not wait for me. Got it?” 

The stubborn set of her jaw and that familiar fire in her eyes let Erik know he was in for a fight. “Two is better than one! I’m a big girl, N’Jadaka.” 

Erik cupped her cheek in his palm. “I know this, but you’re also mine.”

He watched her swallow deeply and nod. Maneuvering the car to match his window to the other driver’s, Erik kept the engine running. He ached for a weapon of any sort, although he was more than confident his hands would serve him well. He stole one last glance over at Julia before rolling down the window. Cocking his elbow out of the open space, he set his face in stone and refused to speak first. This devil wasn’t going to get the honor of his voice or his wrath until it was absolutely necessary. 

“Meet us in the diner. Five minutes. Back booth.” The words were gruff and irked Erik even more. 

Julia leaned around the protective shield of Erik’s bulk. “I believe you meant to say please. Manners, gentlemen.”

Erik smirked. His Jules was the master of sweet sarcasm and he loved it. “You heard the lady,” he ground out as he gunned the engine, peeled away, and parked near the door of the dilapidated building. He stopped Julia before she could exit. 

“Remember what I said, Jules. Things get hinky and you run. Go back to the bunker and I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. Got it?” He gripped her chin in strong fingers to make sure she understood. She nodded and shifted her body towards his. This time it was her palms that found his cheeks, pulling him into an all too brief kiss. 

“I understand. But you listen to me. Don’t do anything brash. We’re in this together, right?” 

Erik gave her a smile and exited just before her door clicked open. They entered the diner shoulder to shoulder with heads held high. Erik waited for Julia to slide into the booth, both of them facing the closed door. Erik let his eyes linger on the smooth brown expanse of Julia’s thigh peeking from the pencil skirt encasing her lower half. He shook his head ruefully before steeling his gaze again. His hand slipped beneath the table to give hers a reassuring squeeze. She held on, nestling the intertwined digits between their nearly touching legs. The tinny sound of the bell above the door echoed in the sparse space. The sunlight of the afternoon was momentarily blocked out by the men Erik desperately wanted to throttle. The matching suits, slicked and spiked hair, thin ties, and sunglasses painted the exact picture Erik expected of two pigs harassing a woman simply trying to protect her community and what was hers. 

The men paused briefly as they searched the room, appearing to expect he and Julia to have defied their instructions. It had been in Erik’s mind to do so, but with Julia next to him he hadn’t wanted to take a chance on any trouble brewing or any harm coming to her. The space in the booth seemed to shrink along with the world when the men took their seats across from them. Erik gave Julia’s hand one last squeeze before disengaging. He crossed his arms tightly across his chest. 

“It seems we are at an impasse,” the “friendlier” of the two started. 

“An impasse? You burned down my house with us inside,” Julia shouted, pressing her torso across the table. Her hand slammed loudly against the Formica. “That is not an impasse! That is attempted murder!” 

“Jules…” 

“No! For months these two have been following me. Slinking about like some sort of hungry dogs. Disappointed I’m still alive?” she scoffed.

The brief look between the two “officers” was not lost on Erik. The man shifted and began to speak again. 

“Attorney Johnson, I must assure you we are not the ones who made an attempt on your life. In fact, we are more vested in this than you may think.” 

Julia snorted, a sound that caught Erik completely off guard. 

“Yes. We have been following you, but it was for your own safety.”

It was Erik’s turn to explode. “Her safety? I call bullshit!”

The officer raised a palm in surrender. “That night was an anomaly. We were lax in our duties and for that we apologize.” 

The waitress’s cheery greeting interrupted the glares and grunts of the table. A round of strong black coffee ordered, Erik broke the silence. 

“You gotta a lot of explaining to do. Get on with it.” He looped a long arm around Julia’s shoulder. 

“We represent the interests of a particular group of business owners in the area. They are very invested in making sure this takeover of the waterfront does not happen. Attorney Johnson has information we need.” 

“Which is why I find it hard to believe you are not ones who set my life aflame. Why, and how, did you show up the next morning?” Julia said evenly, though Erik could feel her trembling. 

The clink of a teaspoon against china echoed briefly. “We have our connections. We wanted to ensure you had whatever you needed to maintain control of your property. We’ve done the same to others in the area. Believe me, we aren’t who you need to watch for.”

“So why are there two investigators on retainer by Jules’ firm? Explain that away.”

“Because they hired us. After we were hired by our actual employers. Ms. Johnson isn’t the only person working from the inside out. Take a look.” 

The hiss of paper sliding across the Formica drew Erik and Julia’s attention to a thin folder being pressed towards them. Erik flipped it open and scanned the page quickly. His eyes widened. The FBI letterhead was something he hadn’t expected to see. He felt the rush of Julia drawing in breath.

“As you can see, you are a little fish in a big pond. We don’t care about your community center nor do we care about your neighborhood if we are being honest. We care about who is behind the development company. We believe they’re red and we won’t have it.” 

Julia barked out a sarcastic laugh. “So black folks are less of a threat than Communists for the time being? I’m supposed to find comfort in that?” 

The men across from them shrugged. “No one said it was perfect, but it is reality for the time being. A cold war is more important than a race war.” 

The lingering hints of racism grated on Erik, but he held his tongue. 

“Then what do you need from me? I’m just a simple Negro attorney.” The sarcasm was thick. 

“You have inside information from the firm. Definitive proof of who they are working with and what they are planning. We want it.” 

***

Erik watched Julia intently. He could see the effects of the wine in her limbs. She was looser than he’d ever seen her. Not intoxicated, just relaxed as he imagined she hadn’t been in a very long time. Just as she had during his first visit to her place, she swayed quietly in front of the turntable. One arm broke the air in graceful arcs, her eyes closed. Gripped delicately between her fingers, the wine glass sloshed with a final gulp of sweetness. She brought it to her mouth and Erik watched the movement of her throat as she let it slide between her lips. The simple action made him hungry for her. 

He was perched on the sofa, a bottle of beer gripped between his own fingers. Legs splayed wide, he tapped his foot to the slow drag of the music and drank deeply. He never took his eyes off her. He was using willpower he wasn’t aware he had to remain seated. All he really wanted to do was cross to her and mold every inch of her to his frame and feel her breathing sync with his. The wine now depleted, Julia’s eyes opened and collided directly with his. Erik recognized the spark of heat in them and bit his lip. Jules had no earthly idea just how dangerous she was. 

She pointed to the half empty bottle on the table before him and beckoned for him to bring it to her. He obliged, rising swiftly to splash a single mouthful into her outstretched glass. She threw it back quickly and relieved him of the bottle. Both items found space on the table housing the record player.

“Dance with me, N’Jadaka,” she cooed, her voice melding into the pleas of Otis Redding. She snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her chest into his. 

Erik took only second to pull her even closer and set their bodies in motion. He pushed an errant curl from her face and tucked it behind her ear. He gazed down at her, unable to resist the pull of her mouth. He tasted her and lost himself in the hints of red wine laced with chocolate. Julia moaned into him and he followed her lead.

Between kisses, and passes of his hands on her hips, Erik knew they needed to talk. “Jules, we need to make a decision.” 

She broke from his mouth and nipped the column of his neck “Hmmm. I suppose we do. But not now.” 

Julia continued the dance, the tips of her fingers grazing the back of his neck. She was gorgeous, clad in one of his white dress shirts and barefoot. The thin t-shirt and boxers against his skin did little to keep the heat of her body from transferring to his. When they’d returned to his place after the diner meeting, both of them had retreated to opposite ends of the sofa stuck in their own thoughts. His mind had raced with just how long the attention would be off of the Panthers and how intense that attention would be when it returned. He didn’t fully trust what the agents were saying, but he couldn’t deny the raids and random visits at the community school had slowed. He’d watched Julia wring her hands and chew her bottom lip as she thought. She’d yet to share what was tumbling around in her head, but he knew it would come. 

The silk of Julia’s hands pressing the t-shirt up and over his torso brought him back to the moment. He helped her, but held her wrists when she started a similar motion with his boxers.

“What’s the deal, sweetheart?” He knew his words were strained. It was taking more of that willpower he wasn’t aware he had to stop from slipping out of the rest of his clothing and relieving her of what she wore.

“I’m sure my intentions are clear, N’Jadaka. I’m the coy one, remember?” She pressed the heady taste of her tongue against his and Erik was done for. 

He latched her to him, moving the two of them to the closest flat surface. Balancing her on the turntable cabinet, he ignored the scratch of the record when he shifted her hips forward towards him. He took his time unbuttoning the shirt, sliding it from her shoulders slowly to savor how she looked in the dimmed lights. 

“Mine?” he questioned, almost afraid of the answer.

“Yours.”

Erik dove into Julia’s mouth, using his hands in her hair to anchor and move her as his passion drove him. He pulled back with his chest heaving and smiled at the purse of her now swollen lips. 

“Yea. You’re mine,” he boasted as he stepped out of his boxers and kicked them somewhere off into the distance.

Soon after, the now splayed open shirt joined them. Erik molded his hands against Julia’s breasts, pulling a throaty gasp from her when his thumbs flicked across each nipple. He planted one palm on the wall behind her and drew a peak into his mouth. He laved and suckled, spurred on by her smooth hand on the back of his neck pushing him more deeply into her. 

“N’Jadaka!” she cried out as his nipped one distended mound of flesh.

He smiled against her skin. “Yes, Jules?”

There was no answer as his tongue trailed its way from the now glistening globes to her collarbone and then her earlobe. Now planting both hands against the wall, Erik took her mouth again with heat he felt coiling from his heart and radiating outward. Julia’s hand reached out and wrapped around the hardened flesh between them. Erik groaned savagely in the back of his throat. 

“You’re asking for trouble,” he warned. 

Julia’s laughter echoed. “Have you learned nothing about me?” She kissed him. “Trouble finds me.” 

Erik gathered her arms about his neck then slid her to the edge of the cabinet. The record skipped again. This time plunging the room into the hissy silence of the needle playing the edge of the label. He entered her slowly, wanting to savor the feel of her curling around him. He rocked her hips towards him until he was fully seated. The smooth surface made it easy to glide her back and forth with each stroke. What sounds echoed in the room were of the soft push of their skin meeting, the liquid of tongues mating, and final shared cry when the world final broke between them.


	11. Chapter 11

On some rare occasions, the memory of oppression can lift. It can be replaced with moments of levity and freedom. Watching the swivel of Julia’s hips was the small crack in the world that set Erik’s heart at ease. Firmly planted against the linoleum floor of the school’s gym, her sneakered feet slid and circled while her arms raised above her head and jerked forward. The peal of her laughter carried across the room and made him smile. Overhead lights caught the sheen of sweat on her brow. She’d been dancing with the children for nearly a half hour, her body doing its best to contort as theirs did as a slim hand fanned the base of her throat. Finally begging off another wave of students after swinging her hips a few more times, Julia made her way back to the sidelines, plopping heavily into the folding chair next to him. She bent forward, forearms balanced on her knees, and drew in a few deep breaths.

“Those kids are going to be the death of me!” she exclaimed as she accepted the waxed cup of punch Erik offered her. 

“They love you, though. You’re good with them, Jules.”

“As are you. There are a few young ladies eying you for a slow dance,” she joked. 

Erik lifted his gaze to see a trio of girls near the door whispering between each other and throwing shy glances his way. He waved and watched them scatter. 

“N’Jadaka!”

He shrugged and laughed heartily. “I’m sure they’ll still make their way over here. You ready to go soon? Tomorrow’s a big day.” 

The mood between them shifted. Julia took a final sip of the sugary drink and sat the cup beneath the chair. 

“Indeed it is. Are we sure about this?” 

Erik waited a beat before answering. He tugged at the cuff of his jacket absently. “Yea. We can’t throw away our hand. We got something they want.” 

“What’s the worst that could happen, right? It’s not like the game isn’t already rigged.” 

There was a thread of anger and resignation in her words that hurt Erik more than he cared to admit. He felt powerless in some ways. A black man trying to hold onto the threads of his own life while making sure all of those around him weren’t pushed off the ledge under the guise of “progress”. 

“I’m going to rectify that, Jules. Believe me when I say that.” 

“We are going to rectify that. It may not matter for us in this moment or this generation, but we will.” Julia raised a fist in his direction which he returned without hesitation. 

They shared a beat of silence before her arm dropped and she retrieved the cup from beneath the seat. She took a few sips before returning it to its place and swiping across her brow again. She looked exhausted. Erik knew the heaviness of that on his shoulders, how much he ached to put it down sometimes. In those moments all he wanted was to be away from the insistent thump of the music, the heat of young bodies vying for attention, all the sweet madness of the world they were trying to save. Erik rose to tower over her, his hand extended to help her rise from the chair. He looped an arm around Julia’s shoulders and guided her towards the exit of the gym. He threw a hand aloft in goodbye to Duke and held the door open for her to step into the cooler night air of the Oakland evening. 

She drifted from him, moving towards the low wall circling the parking lot and took a seat on the brick and mortar. Erik watched her legs dangle and swing for a few seconds before walking a few feet away and closing his eyes. He rolled his shoulders and extended his hands above his head. His centering complete, he returned to her side and sat next to her. In the distance he could make out the glittering skyline and bridges.

“The world’s changing, you know?” Julia mused. “A few years ago I would have never been an attorney at the firm. I would have been lucky to be a cleaning lady. But every time we take a step closer? The goal changes.” 

Erik hummed in agreeance. 

“We work and work and bust our asses for a sliver of the American pie only to find out it’s rotten. You know how disappointing that is? How that breaks spirits?” 

The rhythmic tap of her shoes against the wall was what Erik wanted to concentrate on. He needed to hear what she was saying, knew that it was the reality of this city, the state, and the nation. But there was an ember in Erik that wanted to know what it was like to have an easy life, one disconnected from social justice. A life in the stream, not fighting against the waves. 

“You ever wonder what it would be like to just not care?” 

He stared out into the distance and missed how her gaze burned into the side of his head. 

“Yea. To just go about life like things will take care of themselves. Like nothing matters except moving you and your own forward.” 

There was nothing else to say so Erik let the sounds drifting from the gym fill in the blank spaces so neither of them would continue to crack open under the pressure of what was on the horizon.   
***  
Duke, seated at the far end of the bar when Erik entered, nodded as he approached. The chambray shirt strained against the man’s arms and the dark denim on his thighs was dusty with earth as brown as his skin. Heavy work boots, ones that had seen far better days, were hooked on the bottom rung of the stool. Duke raised the tumbler filled with something dark and strong as Erik took a seat next to him.

"How’s it hanging, E?”

Erik shrugged, a finger raised towards the bartender. “I’m makin’ it. You?”

“Beat down and bogged down.” The statement was laced with exhaustion and bruised pride.

“Still not seeing any progress?” Erik felt the frustration creep into his spirit, too.

For as long as he’d known him, Duke had been breaking his back for the city by spending long days stooped over ditches, potholes, and cracks in the streets. And as each year had passed, he was still nothing more than a laborer. Each time a supervisor’s position had come and gone with his name at the bottom of the list or not on it at all. At the beginning it had been easy to offer words of gold at the end of rainbow or it just not being the other man’s time, but now these events were cause for late evening drinks and often silent companionship until one of them broke the dam of quiet between them.

“You thinking about leaving?” 

“What other choice they givin’ me? More years of tearing my body up with no end in sight?” 

Erik could only grunt and take a sip of the drink placed before him. He knew that feeling well. Before taking over at the school, he’d done whatever he could to make ends meet. Manual labor, day work, and warehouses until his body screamed out at the end of every shift. But life had given him a singular break, one he was trying to hold onto with everything in him. 

“How was the dance? The kids were going nuts when I left.” 

Erik picked up the regret in his friend’s voice, regret he tried to mask by ordering another drink and brightening his voice. 

“It was a gas. They had a good time. Jules and I had to jet, but it was alright.”   
Duke chuckled beside him. “Jules, huh? Seems you and Attorney Johnson are getting mighty close.” 

The need to deny that was lost on Erik. “We are. She’s amazing, man.” 

This time Duke’s laughter boomed, the larger man’s body shaking full force. “Oh how the mighty have fallen! What’s a high-class chick like her doing with a dude like you?”

“You tell me.” Erik took the comment in jest. He knew that just as he thought Duke was solid, the other man thought the same of him. “I need you, though.” 

The mood between them sobered. “You got me. What’s up?”

“I need some muscle. Jules and I have a meeting tomorrow and if it goes bad I need to make sure she’s okay.” 

Duke’s brow knitted as he hunkered over the scarred wood of the bar top. A finger absently rimmed the edge of his glass. “This have to do with the center? ‘Cause if so? You ain’t gotta say nothing but a word.” 

Erik clamped his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Thanks. It’s a goddamn shame we need to even be fighting for this space. It’s ours, built from the ground up.” 

Erik could read the curiosity in Duke’s eyes and vacillated about telling him the entire story. While he and Julia were neck deep in the muck and mire of the city’s undertow, he wanted to make sure as many of their people still had clean hands when it was all said and done. Erik knew the likelihood of black bodies being scapegoats and corpses so he told Duke only what was important for the following day. 

“Jules found out about some heavy shit going down at her firm. We have a meeting with someone interested in what she knows. I just want to make sure she’s protected. We get separated at any point, she’s the priority. Cool?” 

The two shared a tight nod and before Erik knew it the lights were flickering to signal last call and he was out on the block bidding Duke goodbye for the second time that night. Strolling back towards his place, Erik did his best to remember his father’s advice. His father had spent the precious little time they’d had on together on Earth teaching him that real strength came from adaptation and careful planning. Survival meant thinking at least two steps ahead and into the next day. Erik’s father had made sure he understood the art of standing firm without losing the ability to compromise. Erik walked into the night, the words on his lips falling like prayer.   
_Don’t bend and don’t break unless ducking saves your life._  
***  
Mornings come with masks. Masks to be secured over sadness and happiness and fear. Masks to fill in the cracks left from dealing with the world. Masks of words and actions that give people something to do with their hands. Sometimes they are painted and placed correctly. Other times askew. Whatever the breaking of dawn may bring, there is always something to be covered until the sun dips again.

Erik put ten toes to the floor and stretched his arms towards the sky. Some mornings he swore he felt the tips of the ancestors’ fingers brushing against his. Those were the days he knew he could handle what was ahead. This morning he felt nothing. A sigh broke his silence, palms pressed and gripped the edge of the mattress. He flexed his feet, up and down until he finally rocked to standing. Arms akimbo, Erik stared ahead until his vision hazed and then focused. Start.

Fifteen steps down the hallway and into the bathroom. Four steps to the shower and with each one the pieces and parts of his mask made themselves known. Erik steeped a washcloth, soaped it, and scrubbed away the remnants of sleep. When his eyes swung up and collided with their twins in the mirror, he looked a bit more like who he was supposed to be. 

“Il buon tempo verra,” he repeated to himself as he always did when he needed to anchor himself in the present and not in the chaos of his past. 

A soft knock at the door interrupted his morning routine, he peeked around the shower curtain to find Julia taking a seat on the closed commode. She fiddled with her hands in her lap, one his t-shirts pooled around her frame. Erik knew he would never grow tired of seeing her like this, fresh and unguarded before the world settled in around her. 

“Morning. You good?” 

She nodded and Erik felt the waves of nerves rolling off of her. “I’m okay. Just a little worried, you know? Is this going to work?”

Erik had his own fears, but he wouldn’t let her know that. “Of course it will. We play our cards right and this whole thing comes crashing down. We leave in an hour.”


End file.
